Posts Tagged ‘cyber security’

Israel’s Ministry of Defense has designated the coming year as the nation’s Year of Cyber Security Exports, as a cyber conference in Tel Aviv prepares to underline the need to protect governments and corporations from cyber terror.

The ministry’s International Defense Cooperation Directorate (SIBAT) is a key partner in the 2016 HLS and Cyber conference which begins Tuesday (Nov. 15) in Tel Aviv.

“We identified specific opportunities and needs in more than 20 countries around the world with whom SIBAT has close ties,” said SIBAT director Mishel Ben Baruch. “We are centralizing a special effort to connect … Israel’s cyber industries to the needs of our friends around the world.”

Delegations from around the world are gathering in Israel for the conference with a keen interest Israeli technology, in particular, its cyber developments.

Each country with which SIBAT works has a need for cyber security solutions, with some of the world’s most advanced, leading countries seeking collaborative research and development, whether through the Ministry of Defense or Israeli industries. There is also great demand for varied solutions, including state cyber protection, as well as training and solutions to defend from a host of organizations.

At the end of every year, SIBAT holds a strategic assessment for the defense world, including an up to date status report identifying future trends in all relevant fields for the target audiences of SIBAT and the Israeli defense industries.

This year, a situational analysis focusing on the defensive and military cyber spheres is also set to take place. The “cyber situational assessment” will identify specific opportunities and needs in over twenty countries across the globe, in which SIBAT has representatives and close ties with military clients, local police and government officials.

“Cyber warfare is combat terrorism,” says Baruch. “Cooperation between nations is necessary to eliminate and reduce the vulnerability and prices paid by countries as a result of cyber-attacks.

“We identified specific opportunities and needs in more than 20 counties around the world, with which SIBAT has close ties.

“The Israeli defense industries have amazing capabilities in research and development and technology, some of which involves traditional defense technologies being adapted for cyber. Our industries have excellent marketing capabilities and the ability to bring clients tailored, flexible solutions.”

A survey of SIBAT customers has shown a wide need and several trends in the field of cyber exports, according to the ministry.

Among the needs identified are the development and supply of ‘cyber vaccines’ for weapons and command and control systems, establishment of an advanced national CERT center, protection of strategic facilities, establishment of SOC centers, training and trainers, cyber crime and advanced cyber services.

Maryland Governor Larry Hogan told reporters Monday that a Memorandum of Understanding was signed on Sunday between the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Maryland, Baltimore branch.

Hogan is currently in Israel leading a delegation of state officials, business and academic leaders on a week-long trade mission and economic development trip.

Much of the itinerary is focused on cyber security, bio tech and medical industries.

But Hogan said the MOU signed Sunday would strengthen the “successful partnership between these world-class universities and help to advance research in Maryland, particularly in the study of military medicine.”

The U.S. Naval Academy and headquarters, in particular, is located in Annapolis, Maryland.

Hogan said the MOU was intended to “explore opportunities for joint research or training, exchange scholars for seminars and conferences, and increase the exchange of students and faculty for research, teaching and study over the next five years.”

The University of Maryland’s Baltimore branch has recently launched a drive to recruit top scientists in an effort to make the biomedical research program at its School of Medicine the best in the United States.

The Yahoo internet giant announced Thursday that user information in at least half a billion accounts was hacked in 2014.

The company said in a statement that personal data such as email addresses, names, birth dates, passwords and phone numbers, as well as security questions, were all compromised by an unidentified “state-sponsored actor.”

Such data is also linked to many other systems, including financial services, and often the personal data of friends and family, a New York-based law enforcement official who requested anonymity, noted.

Users are being warned to review their accounts for suspicious emails and other suspicious activity. The company said it is working with law enforcement.

A powerful Iranian government-backed hacker group, “Rocket Kitten,” has been de-clawed in a special operation carried out by police in Europe.

Sources from the Check Point Sofware company, a U.S.-Israeli security firm, were quoted by Reuters as saying they identified the threat presented by the hacker group linked to the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, as far back as early 2014.

“Rocket Kitten” had mounted some 1,600 attacks on powerful defense and political global leaders in the United States, Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Turkey, among other targets, according to the report.

Researchers at Check Point had located the computers used to launch the attacks. National computer security response teams were informed in Britain, Germany and the Netherlands, the company said. The response teams in turn informed local police about the locations of the attacking “command and control” servers, controlled from Iran.

Among the high-profile personalities targeted by the Iranian hacker group were Israeli nuclear scientists, NATO officials, members of the Saudi Arabian royal family, wives of generals from unidentified nations and Iranian dissidents.

An advance copy of a report on the operation to be released Monday by Check Point explains how the security response teams were able to enter the hacker group’s database and remote-controlled computers to plant a malicious set of software tools.

The Israel Security Agency (Shin Bet), Europol and FBI have all declined comment on the report.

Hackers attacked an out-of-date Israel credit card website Monday and are planning a massive attack on websites and mobile phones on April 7, according to experts of the Aman group, ClearSky and Terrogence.

Next month is “Hacktivists month.” In this day and age of suicidal liberalism, when will there be a National Terrorists’ Month?

Until then, we will have to settle for a month of intensified attempts to bring the Israeli economy and government to its knees.

“As the dates of the attacks approach we identify more and more cyber-attacks against Israeli sites and leaks of databases,” said Chaim Levy, director of cyber sales in Aman Group, quoted by Israel Defense. “We have already identified claims of hackers for attacks against routers and modems in Israel and for stealing thousands of email addresses which will be leaked, according to the attackers, on April 7th.

“At the same time, we should pay attention to the growing use and interest in Amplification attacks including NTP attacks. We have already located a person seeking to obtain guidance on the use of this method towards the coming operation.”

A cyber-attack on Monday hit an old site of the Visa credit card company in Israel. “Free Palestine” appeared on the site along with the names, e-mail address, identity card numbers, home addresses and telephones of approximately 1,000 credit card holders. However, no credit card numbers were published.

Visa explained that the site that was attacked is an old site that is not part of its active credit card system, which is highly protected against cyber-attacks.

Levy said that the hackers behind Monday’s attack and the assault planned in April are from groups organized in the Muslim world, including Indonesia, the Palestinian Authority, Syria, Jordan and North Africa.

The campaign was officially launched on February 9th, under the name OpIsrael 3.0, with the opening of an official Twitter page (not active for over two weeks) and distribution of a list of 1,300 Israeli internet sites, including those of the government, banks, defense industries, academic institutions and, the media.

They also plan to send spam messages on mobile phones.

The attack on April is planned to follow last year’s invasions and therefore is being called OpIsraelBirthday.

Organizers have released an anti-Israel YouTube, which concludes with threats of cyber-attacks. The video announces to Israel, with grammatical mistakes, “We are AnonGhost Team!! We are always here to punish you, as we did in the last operation on the 7th of April.

“And we are back again to celebrate it, Because we are the voice of Palestine and we will not remain silent.

“Muslims are Everywhere.

“Israel Doesn’t exist its only Palestine…The 7th of April every year will be a Victory celebration. We are proud of what we did before and after 1 year we are capable to take this to another level.

The launching of the CyberSpark national cyber complex in Be’er Sheva this week prepares the way for what the “capital of the Negev” hopes will turn the city into Israel’s next Silicon Valley.

Lockheed Martin and IBM formally announced that they will set up their research activities in the park, joining Deutsche Telekom and EMC.

More than 450 heads of industry and cyber security agencies from around the world attended Tel Aviv’s Cybertech 2014, where the announcements of CyberSpark were made. Among those attending were 50 people from the White House and the Department of Homeland Security, and top officials from Checkpoint, IBM, Cisco, EMC and Kaspersky.

“Beer-Sheva will not only be the cyber capital of Israel but one of the most important places in the cyber security field in the world,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared at the opening of the conference.

CyberSpark is being billed as the only complex of its kind in the world that includes industry leaders, academic research, leading security agencies, educational facilities and human capital specializing in cyber security and national government agencies.

Their goal is to produce a complete eco-system which will contain all the components needed to create a global leader in the cyber field by the pooling of resources, shared technology infrastructure construction and synergy of specialists, researchers and students.